Although the series has already wrapped up on CTV, Transplant season 4 is yet to conclude in America. Premiering on NBC on Thursday, May 22 at 8 p.m. ET, the procedural dropped two back-to-back episodes. Transplant centers around Hamza Haq's character, Bashir “Bash” Hamed, a Syrian doctor who flees his homeland with his sister and takes refugee in Canada. Each season coincides with one year of Bash's residency.

The show was created, written, and executive produced by Joseph Kay and has remained among CTV's most-watched broadcast programs each year it aired. It has received several Canadian Screen Awards and nominations, including two for Best Dramatic Series. In addition to Haq, Transplant stars Laurence Leboeuf, Ayisha Issa, Jim Watson, Rekha Sharma, Sirena Gulamgaus, Torri Higginson, and Kenny Wong.

I spoke with star Hamza Haq and showrunner Joseph Kay about the series' real-life significance, Bash and Mag's romance, and what fans can expect in Transplant season 4.

Haq Hopes Transplant Helps Viewers Recognize The Struggles Of Refugees

"I think it's important to that nobody wants to be a refugee. Nobody chooses that."

ScreenRant: Season 4 of Transplant is airing on NBC, but it has already concluded in Canada. Is it fun for you to anticipate the different reactions each time?

Joseph Kay: Yeah, it's actually great. It's happened every year. In season 1, it was six months after, and then that gap increased a little bit in seasons 2, 3, and 4. But I've actually enjoyed it because I go through this process a couple times. When it premieres in the US, there's way more stuff on social media, so there's a lot more stuff to read because there's a bigger audience. And by then, because it's been a minute since we shot it, I will watch it again fresh and get excited about it again. So I enjoy that process.

Hamza Haq: Yes, it is, but I feel like I'm more grateful for the fact that I've had a different reaction watching it a little bit of time later. Because while we're doing press for it and we're in the throes of filming it, it's still rather fresh and everything, so to have it settle and then be away from it, and you kind of forget how long it's been, it's like going home and your mom cooking your favorite meal.

You're just like, "Oh my God, I forgot how much I missed this. This is beautiful. It's lovely." And then you pick up the phone, you're just like, "Hey, how have you been? We haven't spoken in so long." You know what I mean? Even though it hasn't been a substantial amount of time, we finished filming in October 2023.

Selfishly for me, I get an opportunity to sit back and watch it as an audience member, and it's a really good show. And I'm certain, especially given the subject matter and everything that's going on in the world right now, particularly in that part of the world too, that I think it's an important story to see right now. I'm very curious and I'm anticipating what people are going to say about it.

That actually brings me to my next question. There is obviously such an importance to this story because of the reality behind it. What do you hope people take away from Bash's life and everything he's had to endure?

Hamza Haq: I think, overall, you have to understand, and this is something that was just so important when working with everybody who lent their voice to the show—we had a slew of Syrian refugees share their experience. And over the course of the show, I met so many refugees from all over the world, and they're telling me about their experiences.

And at the end of season 3, there's a scene where Bash goes back to a refugee camp to help out, and he's working with his friend, and both of these men were doctors who had to flee Syria as a result of the war, and they got an opportunity to go back and help out other Syrians in a refugee camp and then meet again and see their friends again, and then go home to their families. It's just not the case for so many people. Every single day, we're hearing about medical workers who are losing their lives in refugee camps as a result of war or attacks.

I think it's important to that nobody wants to be a refugee. Nobody chooses that. This is people who are forced into an absolutely abhorrent circumstance, and all they want to do is go home. And more often than not, it's not an option. And when they don't get to go home, I feel like that feeling, when that's taken away, the only thing that can replace that is a sense of contribution to community. And when you take away somebody's home and you remove their opportunity to contribute to any community, it dehumanizes them completely.

So I hope what people realize is that, especially seeing Muslim men the way that they've ordinarily been portrayed in a lot of Western media, I think to have a voice that speaks to their humanity and their talent and their desire to take care of their families and communities, is an important story to tell. All they're doing is their best. I think everybody deserves a chance to do their best. Bash is somebody who's earned the right to do his best. So that's what I'm really grateful for. The fact that he gets to where so many people don't.

You matched the four seasons of the show to Bash's residency, so the plan was always to wrap it up after season 4. Were there any storylines that changed throughout the journey?

Joseph Kay: To your first point, the intention was to do a four-season window into this man's life as he looks to shed some of his past and grows to be able to visualize a future for himself. So that was always the plan. In of some of the big story beats, it was iterative because we had made some plans, and some of them we kept to.

For example, we always knew we were going to write John Hannah's character out of the show about halfway through because he was a character who was really protective of Bash, and we needed Bash to be more in the wilderness and unprotected. So that was something we always knew we were going to do. But then with some of the other specific beats, as you're writing the character, they start writing back at you, and so we were open to that, and something shifted definitely along the way.

Transplant Season 4 Has Bash And Mags' Most Romantic Storyline

"They're in limbo, but there's not tension. What there is is this chemistry that they just can't shake."

The season 3 finale established that Mags and Bash are in very different places in their lives right now. Can we hold out hope that things might work out for them in season 4?

Joseph Kay: Definitely. Mags and Bash—they broke up sort of at the end of season 3. So when we meet them in season 4, they're not together, they're in limbo, but there's not tension. What there is is this chemistry that they just can't shake. And what ends up happening early in the season is that they learn that they're in a kind of competition in the emergency department for what will happen professionally post-residency, that there's a role there and they're both aiming for it.

And what that does is it resets their chemistry in a really playful way. It allows them to stay in each other's orbit. They both really want the thing they're both vying for, and we see them engaging with each other without some of the weight that had been creeping up around them in the end of season 3. And that just kind of gently brings us into their story in season 4. And I will say that season 4 is, without a question, their most romantic and affecting and emotional season between those two.

I know that you filmed season 1 years ago, but with this being the end of the show, do you the moment when you first connected to Bash and really felt that character within yourself?

Hamza Haq: I think I connected to Bash on a meta level when we were filming the truck crash. We were losing the light, it was two in the morning, there are two cameras going around, and we're sweating, and we've got blood prosthetics. and all this great SFX. And I just realized how incredible it was that I get the opportunity to do this, and I realized that I think I love acting as much as Bash likes being a doctor.

I think I'm just as desperate and just as irresponsible about wanting to do this thing as Bash wants to become a doctor. Of course, my life circumstances are nowhere near as dire in that regard. I'm very grateful for that. But there's just this thing of, "I love this thing, and I'm willing give my life to it," in a sense. To be able to speak to something from that level of desperation and desire for validation and sort of self-preservation as well, where I don't really know what else to do with my life.

I'm just going to throw myself headfirst into this situation and don't know the outcome. I know that very well. I think a lot of actors can relate to, "I'm just going to throw myself headfirst into this and we'll see what happens." And then how you take care of yourself within that world is also something where I can relate to Bash, because I very frequently forget that I have to take care of myself because I'm so singularly focused on this extremely competitive and stressful environment.

The stakes are definitely much higher in Bash's world, but at the core, that's where we were similar. I was able to lend some of my experiences to what Bash is going through, and I learned a great deal through both the writing and the stories that a lot of the Syrian refugees lent to Bashir's story as well that have been very humbling and allowed me to understand that I'm very lucky that I get to do this.

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About Transplant Season 4 On NBC

Created And Executive Produced By Joseph Kay

Season 4 of Transplant finds Bashir “Bash” Hamed on the precipice of finishing his residency at York Memorial and officially requalifying as a doctor. With his future uncertain once again, Bash and his sister, Amira, are Canadian citizens now, but are still trying, with everything they have, to build a life in their adopted country.

Transplant season 4 airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on NBC.